James Higson

I have two venturi burner forges. They work beautifully in high wind and also everywhere else. They are AMAL burners and have served me very well. I have always been told that forced air propane burners when used for forge welding absolutely chew up your steel with oxidative scale formation. Is this the case?

Great story and I can see why you are proud of that last tanto, absolutely magnificent activity in the hamon. You continue to inspire and educate, can't wait to see what you make next!

Wow, thank you for the kind words and for the nomination Emiliano, I think I speak for sam and I when I say that means more than you know. We owe at least half of the project to your guidance through the tortuous world of leather sheath making! Thank you Ryan, Jason and Josh, makes those hours in the workshop instead of assisting with wedding planning all worthwhile!

Cheers guys, means a lot after so much work!

They will absolutely be part of the regalia. We're getting married in a castle and we are allowed to wear the Seaxes until the drinking starts, they then have to go into the armoury! A reasonable request I think

Cheers Josh! Sorry, didn't get any top down shots of them! The handles are oval shaped so much thinner than they appear James

Dear All, These Anglo Saxon inspired seaxes are finally finished for my wedding two months hence! Some of the WIP (before I broke my camera and had to push onwards) is on this thread: Enjoy! Comments and Criticism gratefully received. I have learnt a heck of a lot on this build, if I were to be making just one I am sure I could have done a much better job of it. However, since there were ten.... yes ten.... with a definite deadline I struggled to spend the extra hundred hours on the sheath required per piece! All in all, I'm happy with them and I'm sure their new owners will be too. A huge amount of thanks must go to Sam Ecroyd, without whom this would not have been possible! Cheers, James P.S. Sorry about the bits of stuff on the blades, didn't realise there was dust on them until I was editing!

Any oxygen getting between the layers with stainless will kill your weld. Welding along the entire seam is recommended for this reason. Wire would not be ideal. James

Looks wicked! Like a stretched out Khopesh. I like it.

Hi Tomislav, Just had a look at the composition of 1.2519. Looks like it has 0.3%M and 1.2% Cr! Likely your mild doesn't like that a lot and also likely means that the mild is moving significantly more during heating and cooling cycles than the core, causing it to tear itself apart. I don't know what other carbon steels are available to you where you are but I would try another lower M and Cr steel. James

Well, that is some gnarly wrought! Interesting pattern, none of the usual woodgrain appearance, some relatively homogenous areas. Beautiful pieces!

Very interesting. I didn't know so many included bone. Thank you.

Next. Level. (As always)

Great, I hope you don't mind if I make one identical! The highest form of flattery and all that

Thanks guys! Pretty chuffed with it, mounting it soon. Any idea why it has an 'A' on one side? James